Abstract
In this paper, I discuss how the papacy differentiated welcoming ceremonies for ambassadors of Catholic rulers from those for ambassadors of non-Catholic sovereigns during the early modern period. I argue that Pope Gregory xiii treated the Tenshō embassy, which had been dispatched by Catholic samurai lords, as a royal ambasciata d’obbedienza. Such an embassy displayed obedience to the pope on behalf of its king. Gregory xiii thus turned the Japanese seminary students into ambassadors and fully honoured them. However, the reception of the Keichō embassy, which a Shinto-Buddhist samurai had sent to Rome during the pontificate of Paul v, was of lesser distinction in terms of clothing, attendees, and the designated location. Similar trends can be traced in the papal reception of some ambassadors from the Christian Orthodox, Muslim, and Buddhist sovereigns in Muscovy, Persia, and Siam. Archival documents and visual images enable us to reconstruct these ambassadors’ entries, the papal audiences, and other diplomatic proceedings in the Eternal City. In particular, non-Catholic visitors’ manner of greeting the pope during their audiences was of importance to the papacy, which sought to uphold its dignity. The papacy apparently had not codified how to receive ambassadors from non-Catholic rulers and hence turned to earlier receptions as examples to follow. This paper clarifies that the religious predilection of rulers shaped the papal reception of their ambassadors, through which the pope demonstrated his authority and the supremacy of the Catholic Church.